Obesity is reaching epidemic proportions in many regions of the world, particularly in the United States. In order to treat obesity, various bariatric procedures have been developed including, for example, gastric bypass, adjustable gastric banding, and sleeve gastrectomy. The goal in each of these procedures is to reduce the stomach capacity to restrict the amount of food that the patient can eat. The reduced stomach capacity, in turn, results in a feeling of fullness for the patient after ingesting a relatively smaller amount of food. Thus, the patient can achieve significant weight loss.
Sleeve gastrectomy involves transecting a stomach, e.g., using a stapling device or other suitable device, to reduce a stomach volume. Sleeve gastrectomy procedures are often aided by the use of a gastrectomy device, which serves as a guide or template for transecting the stomach to the appropriate configuration while inhibiting inadvertent transection of stomach or esophageal tissue. Once the stomach has been appropriately transected, the gastrectomy device is removed and a leak test is performed to determine whether there are any areas of extravasation.
In some circumstances, a patient post-surgery may intake meals that are larger than recommended, which subjects the reduced size stomach to mechanical stretching. If the patient continues to intake larger meals, the reduced size stomach may begin to assume an enlarged size approximating the pre-surgery stomach size, thus at least partially negating the benefits sought by the sleeve gastrectomy procedure.
Accordingly, it may be desirable to provide a way to aid in maintaining the reduced size of the stomach post-surgery to counteract excessive eating by a patient.